When a user moves his laptop in and out of a docking station, the user most likely will be switching network connections between an Ethernet and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) (or some other combination of LAN interfaces). Each interface has a different Internet Protocol (IP) address. Thus, when switching occurs, the source/destination addresses of any ongoing sessions on the laptop are changed. Many such sessions such as, for example, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) based sessions (e.g., File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hyper Text Transfer protocol (HTTP), and so forth) and media streaming sessions cannot survive such changes. Accordingly, session continuity cannot be maintained.
Mobile IP is one solution to this problem. However, due to complex nature of mobile IP both in terms of network requirements and terminal modifications, it is rarely used for mobility in a local environment.
Cellular IP is a micro mobility solution for a local environment. When a mobile terminal attaches to a different network segment, routers in the network are notified to update their forwarding tables. However, this solution is also rarely deployed because it requires significant changes to network routers.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and highly advantageous to have mobile solution that solves the above-described problems of the prior art.